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What I Learned When I Couldn't Ignore Polycystic Kidney Disease Anymore: An Interview with Khaiah Thomson
107 Plays5 months ago
The After Dinner Mint is a podcast of Stories I’d Tell You at Dinner. We bring Christian women in Western Australia together through honest stories. We are interviewing all our regular contributors in Season 1 for you to get to know them better. Khaiah Thomson is a social worker and the author of the Blackwood series.
In today’s episode, we explore:
- Turning your creative hobby into your job and finding ways to get unstuck
- Growing up as a pastor’s kid in the country. Khaiah believed she was a Christian, but when she moved to Perth as a teenager she wrestled with feeling alone and unloveable. God said to her, “You don’t know me.”
- In a time when people want to outsource discipleship of their kids, the value of growing up in a big family where she felt like it was a safe place to wrestle with all her big questions about faith and life.
- Working as a hospital social worker on the renal transplant team whilst also diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease. We discuss coming to terms with eventually needing a kidney transplant when she wanted to ignore it and learning to rest in the fact that God is in control.
Check out the show notes for everything mentioned in the show.
Check out Welcome to Blackwood, the first book in the trilogy. So fun!!
About Khaiah
West Australian Author Khaiah Thomson pens the Blackwood series. The first book Welcome to Blackwood won the Hawkeye Publishing Manuscript Development Prize in 2020. Khaiah first decided to write young adult fiction novels as a way to exercise her brain while on maternity leave. She wanted to create a magical escape for young readers, all the while gently weaving in themes of God’s love through the timeless battles of good versus evil, unconditional love and the power of redemption.
Khaiah lives in Perth with her husband and two sons. When she isn't working or in her home office writing, Khaiah can usually be found nose-deep in a book, gaming or at the nearest cafe, hovering close to the coffee machine. Khaiah’s Welcome to Blackwood series can be found in all good bookstores and Hawkeye Books.
Want honest stories from Christian women in Western Australia in your inbox on Wednesdays? Sign up here.
Music: Come Back by Ketsa. Licensed under a Creative Commons License Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives 4.0 International License.
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Transcript
Personal Health and Lifestyle Impact
00:00:00
Speaker
Potentially as like my condition progresses, I'll back out of that role. Like they'll reach a point where it's like, yeah, it's getting too, because I also live nearby.
00:00:10
Speaker
So that's going to be my hospital. So, yeah, at some point it's going to get weird and awkward and it's just better. Weird and awkward, I know. See you guys. Hand in your lanyard and take your Medicare card out. That's right.
00:00:24
Speaker
Yeah. This
Podcast Introduction and Themes
00:00:29
Speaker
is the After Dinner Mint, a podcast of stories I tell you at dinner. Think of the mint as the stories you tell after you've been kicked out of the restaurant.
00:00:37
Speaker
holding a mint, standing in the street, telling more honest stories with your friends than you did at the table. It's not a sermon, it's not advice, it's not self-help. We're processing what we're learning about faith and life, honestly, in community, to encourage you to do that with your God and your community.
00:00:59
Speaker
I'm
Interview with Kaya Thompson
00:01:00
Speaker
Bec and today i'm here with Kaya Thompson, one of our regular writers. We're kicking off the podcast by interviewing all our contributors so you can get to know them better. So hey, Kaya. Hey, Bec. Thank you for having me.
00:01:13
Speaker
Nice to have you. So
Balancing Motherhood and Social Work
00:01:15
Speaker
people who don't know you, can you tell us a bit of like what a typical week looks like for you? What kind of things make up your week? Okay. So first of all, I have two boys, five and almost eight. So they keep me pretty busy. yeah I work part time as a social worker. So that's three days a week.
00:01:35
Speaker
I've got the usual, the after school sports, household chores. I try to get a session at the gym or walk the dog at least a couple of times a week. And then weekends are mostly, you know, trips to the BMX park or skate park, play dates, church and family time because I come from a very big family. So catching up with everyone, you know, is a part-time job.
00:02:01
Speaker
Oh, wow. I get it. Yeah, how do you even do that? That just, all of that, i'm like, wow, like my kids are coming into the season of like kids sport, but I don't have the amount of family you have to keep up with.
00:02:16
Speaker
Yeah, it's, um I guess you take it week by week, really. But for the most part, it's pretty, you know, casual and easygoing. So it's not it's not a chore or anything like that. ah We're just are very social people, somewhat by choice, somewhat not by choice.
00:02:37
Speaker
No, that's excellent. That's excellent. What sports are your kids playing? at the moment it is footy, football. So my youngest just started Auskick and Oscar's just moved into junior footy.
00:02:51
Speaker
Oh, nice. Yeah, I did. My kids did two years of – the oldest did two years of Auskick, but he did not. He didn't love it Trying to work out what else to do with my life really. So tell me, what are you doing?
00:03:05
Speaker
Like were you – you feel the most like yourself, kind of like this is what I was made to do, you know, like what makes you feel the most alive? A bit of a tricky one at the moment. I mean,
Passion for Writing and Overcoming Burnout
00:03:17
Speaker
part of me wants to jump in and say that writing is where I feel probably the most alive and i think using my creative brain definitely,
00:03:28
Speaker
yeah does make me feel alive and I feel like I'm sort of in the space where I belong. I'm kind of going through a bit of a, patch at the moment though where I think I have writer's burnout so writing a bit more like homework so I think because of all all of the other things going on I've just given ah a bit of a but yeah generally that is where I would feel most comfortable and most yeah I guess where I feel I have the most input yeah yeah and that
00:04:03
Speaker
kind of sucks I suppose if like writing has always been the thing that you've done for fun and then like with writing books you've almost had to like do a lot of work and yeah it's almost it has become like a second job really yeah like do you have a creative hobbies I do like to bake cakes although mostly because I like to eat them and I do like a bit of gaming as well that's not really creative but it's um It's a creative use of time.
00:04:36
Speaker
But it is. It's kind of like problem solving, right? Yep, yep. Yeah, you could spin it that sure a lot of people would love to spin it that way.
00:04:49
Speaker
No, I'm not wasting three hours of my evening time. I'm problem solving using my brain. so
00:04:59
Speaker
What type of stuff do you like to play? sort of open
Gaming as Relaxation and Creativity
00:05:03
Speaker
world type games like Skyrim's probably my all-time favorite any of those sort of adventure first person type games I like nothing too stressful yeah nice is that kind of again like explain like a vibe I have no idea but is that kind of like you're going around you talk to the wizard the wizard's like go here go on this quest and then you do go on the quest and then like you make friends and you have to like is it that kind of thing Yeah, Or is that something completely different?
00:05:31
Speaker
Pretty much. Kill a few bad guys along the way. Excellent. Excellent.
00:05:39
Speaker
That's so good. Yeah. and What do you do if writing is tricky? Like, do you have any – mean, I like that you're just kind of putting it aside for a bit. Is there anything else that helps? Usually reading helps.
00:05:54
Speaker
In a way, gaming say, watching movies, any sort of creative pursuit does help in some way. I think it, um yeah, I mean, even back, so I have started a new series. I finished a trilogy back last year.
00:06:12
Speaker
So Welcome to Blackwood's the First One, and it's, ah yeah, a three-book trilogy. So I finished Redeeming Blackwood last year and that was published. So i sort of put things on the back burner, ah other ideas on the back burner but I did have one that I've started and the idea came to me while I was watching Pocahontas with my kids and it's nothing like Pocahontas. I can't explain. It's like post-apocalyptic and ah completely different.
00:06:41
Speaker
But, yeah, it's just moments like that, so they do help to get the creative juices flowing. Yeah, think it's that, not that I've written any novels but I think anything that I've done creatively often just find that you're doing the dishes you're walking along and you're like yeah that's that's what i'm gonna do yeah but yeah yeah your brain kind of needs to be at rest a bit almost yeah yeah which doesn't help with getting to sleep at night but you know
00:07:13
Speaker
i found that writing notes down in my phone usually sorts that out i know i love i love the notes app i'm just like I have just jotted so many fragments of like poems or other random things just to be like, I'm going to come back to that.
00:07:29
Speaker
And then you just forget about it for ages, but they're great. Yeah.
00:07:35
Speaker
Okay. All right. so
Striving for a Morning Routine
00:07:37
Speaker
tell me, what are your current game changes? it might be a reframe or a different way of looking at a situation. So typically I'm very much a night person. I think once the kids are in bed, I like having that sort of time to myself.
00:07:52
Speaker
But I'm finding, I think with work, I've got, you know, kids, got a few health things going on, just don't have the energy at night to achieve anything. And not that your rest time is meant, you know, just for achieving stuff, but I'm trying to be...
00:08:09
Speaker
yeah Yeah. So usually I find that once the kids are in bed, all I'm doing is watching Netflix or playing video games, which is great for some of the time, but I feel like I need to be filling my spare time with other things as well. Maybe a bit of writing, you know, that kind of thing.
00:08:25
Speaker
and But I'm trying, and key word there is trying, I'm trying to become a morning person. o Yeah. so early nights, wake up early.
00:08:38
Speaker
it's yeah It's pretty hard going, but o and that is sort of my goal. I think it would, I'd achieve a lot more if i sort of used my time better.
00:08:50
Speaker
ah just hard empathise because I am naturally, I love night time and, but I just found if I was going to get any time to myself and I was like, I'm working backwards from the time that like I actually need some time to myself, it would have to be in the mornings.
00:09:07
Speaker
Like yeah my husband works on hours and I was like, actually, it needs to be in the morning and it hurts. But once you do get that, then you kind of, there's nothing else that's going to take that morning slot. And then you become, I've become very possessive of it.
00:09:21
Speaker
o Yeah. sorry Oh yeah. So that's where I'm at at the moment, you know, baby steps. and So is it like just the reframe is like, I am a morning person or.
00:09:33
Speaker
Oh, the reframe is just making myself go to bed early. it does To be honest, it does not matter what time I go to bed. My brain sort of goes a million miles a minute. So the earlier I get to bed, the earlier I will still get to sleep.
00:09:47
Speaker
That is the idea. ah like it. You're like positive thinking. Yeah, that's right.
00:09:56
Speaker
About the brain. I know. Man, that hurts. So it's like a little bit of a segue but completely unrelated. How did you become a Christian? Yeah, so i
Personal Faith Journey
00:10:06
Speaker
I grew up as pastor's kid.
00:10:09
Speaker
So I very much had i ah pretty good knowledge of God and the Bible and Jesus from a very young age. And I'd say even growing up, I prayed regularly.
00:10:23
Speaker
i read you know my Bible stories and talked to God and on a regular basis. So I always assumed I was a Christian. And then when I was year I was 11,
00:10:36
Speaker
and We moved from a small country town to Perth and it was a very big adjustment for me. I found it was a big culture shock. it's not It's funny looking back. Like, it yeah, it doesn't seem that big a difference in culture. But at the time there were so, you know, city kids were just so different.
00:10:56
Speaker
Walking the street, I mean, you had to wear shoes in the city otherwise people looked at you weird. So all of these things wanted to. but I had a pretty hard time making friends and i found myself in a pretty lonely place for a few years and it sort of came to a head when I was 13 so I was in year eight so that sort of transitioned into high school and my mum had questioned one day on the way home from from church because we'd had an argument in the car and she questioned whether or not I was a Christian a christian and it kind of
00:11:34
Speaker
it really took me off guard. i never thought that there was a possibility that I wasn't. And at the time I was quite angry about it. But then, you know, a few weeks later i was praying at night as I usually did sort of when I was going to sleep.
00:11:49
Speaker
And I found that that time between when you're in bed and you're sort of falling asleep was probably when I felt the most alone. I'd, over time I'd sort of,
00:12:03
Speaker
because I felt that loneliness and that emptiness, I'd reached a point where I'd assumed that it must be my fault, that I wasn't lovable or I wasn't likable, you know, those kinds of things. Very, very heavy things for a 13 year old to be thinking about. But I think when you're going through puberty and you're going through, you know, discovering who you are and what you believe and all of that, you have some pretty big and and heavy thoughts.
00:12:32
Speaker
So that particular night I was praying and just asking God to fix it, to fix me. And it was something I'd prayed many times, but that particular night I just remember he answered with a very simple phrase, that you do not know me.
00:12:50
Speaker
And I was, I remember thinking about it, I was like, of course I know you. And then he said it again, like you do not know me. And then I realised, I guess it was like that, you know, that light bulb moment where I realised I wasn't a Christian.
00:13:06
Speaker
And so, yeah, so that night I gave my life to Christ and a you know, I'm one of those people where it was that there was that very definitive moment and the next day I felt completely different, like I woke up, like a burden lifted, like,
00:13:24
Speaker
You know, nobody could touch me. It didn't matter that, you know, if kids were ignoring me at school. Like I just felt such joy that I knew that ah another human being couldn't take that from me.
00:13:38
Speaker
So that was pretty cool. That's amazing. Yeah. That's really cool. Yeah, thank you
00:13:46
Speaker
I just love that that shift where you're Yeah, it's going from like that shift from such loneliness into such joy and peace. you think, wow, like that's just so good. Yeah. yeah And I think, you know there's a lot of little things that built up to that for sure, but, you know, that's very much at a short summary.
00:14:08
Speaker
But it's obviously what needed to happen for God to get through. Yeah. And, like, I think that's it. It's like people assume that I suppose.
00:14:21
Speaker
but it's interesting outside looking into, you know, you think how do people from Christian homes become Christians? But I think everybody has to come to God. Like you don't absorb it by osmosis. Like everybody has to kind of, yeah, really process and think like, what do I actually believe in you? Do I actually love you? Do I know you?
00:14:43
Speaker
Yeah. yeah And um I imagine for a lot of people when you've grown up, when you have that, deep knowledge of God you and your faith and Christianity and it's all around you, it's so easy to sort of just believe you're a part of that, that you have that relationship with Christ because, you know, you have this knowledge of him. you In a way, you know about him. You know so much about him. There's a very big difference with oh knowing about him and knowing him.
00:15:17
Speaker
Yeah, and I remember after that as well, opening my Bible and reading stories and chapters, and they just took on a completely different meaning. They weren't just stories anymore. Like I was getting messages from what I was reading. And that was, yeah, that was another big change.
00:15:37
Speaker
Yeah, I love that. I love that it's that shift from something that you have read your entire life and you're like the actual words are different, like this meaning is different.
00:15:50
Speaker
Yeah, because of, don't know, I mean it just sounds corny to say i like a heart shift, but you're like, yeah, it's that. o Yeah, heart shift, mind shift.
00:16:01
Speaker
whole lot. Yeah. So who's someone who's encouraged or inspired you in your Christian walk and why? i would have
Family as Spiritual Support
00:16:11
Speaker
to say my family. We're a pretty, pretty close knit bunch. So I think.
00:16:16
Speaker
When it comes to, you know, talking about faith and talking about questioning things, sort of questioning society's view of Christianity and all of that, like the safest space to have those conversations has always been with my family.
00:16:30
Speaker
Like we can have arguments, we can sort of debate things and, yeah, it's a safe space for that. So I think for sure it would have to be my family. It's pretty cliche but, yeah.
00:16:42
Speaker
That's, yeah, dad, mum, my sisters, my brothers, my brothers. Yeah, definitely. I love that. And I think that's like it kind of speaks to that, you know, I think people want to outsource often, you know, that discipleship to other places.
00:17:01
Speaker
But actually, I mean, what you're getting at is like, yeah, discipling kids kind of really happens in the home. where you're like, yeah, you really want it to be a safe place. Like bring all of this stuff in. Yep, but we're not scared of your questions.
00:17:15
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, and it was always a good space. Like even as a young adult sort of when I moved into the social work world and, you know, questioned because you see some pretty, know, pretty dark and depressing things that sort of, you know,
00:17:35
Speaker
you realise humanity, i mean, you look at, you know, the world when God flooded it for a reason, like the way that humanity went. Yeah.
00:17:46
Speaker
And so there was a lot of things as a young social worker where I questioned why God would let those things happen. Why would he let the world go this way? so it was always really good to have those conversations with, yeah, my parents. I found that yeah really really helpful to get through that time oh I love that let's that's so lovely that you had that and you were able to wrestle with that like I think yeah my experience is like similar to you in similar kind of roles but like that child protection prison kind of work and you do really wrestle with like
00:18:26
Speaker
some of this stuff is evil. You know, people are capable of such evil and, like, the weirdest thing is that it's such a left-leaning field. You know what i mean? Like the the field that you're working in is so different.
00:18:41
Speaker
Like them and the perspective where it comes from is so different. But for me, I'm with you where i really ended up landing on, like, I just I find a lot of comfort in you. Like, well, God knows.
00:18:53
Speaker
God sees. God sees. God's going to deal with everything and some things can't be fixed by people or therapy or, yeah, some things really are, yeah.
00:19:05
Speaker
But I love that you had that space to really wrestle with. Like that's a really good gift to give to our kids, I think. Oh, yeah, for sure. Something i like to keep in mind with my own kids, trying to be that safe, open space.
00:19:21
Speaker
Yeah. If you've done something wrong, just tell me. I won't be mad. Will I be in trouble? Maybe.
00:19:33
Speaker
Maybe. You can come to me with anything. Oh, man. So can you tell us about like a hard season suffering?
00:19:47
Speaker
Like one of those hard seasons that you've walked through? Yeah. So there's been, there's been a few. I think
Coping with Life Changes and Health Issues
00:19:56
Speaker
probably the most recent one would be most relevant. So back a few years ago, my husband and I made the decision to move house.
00:20:06
Speaker
So we wanted to move sort of further, closer into the city, just closer to work for him, closer to work for me. and we we made that decision to upsize.
00:20:17
Speaker
and moved closer to the city. Just we sort of purchased our house and then interest rates started like shooting through the roof. So we were under a fair bit of financial stress.
00:20:29
Speaker
And then at the same time, i moved into a job that was ah flexible, which was great at the time. Like it worked really well for our family. But i'd I'd have to say it was the most stressful job I've had.
00:20:43
Speaker
And I've really worked with that. we We came across each other in child protection, so I'd done that. I'd done mental health. ah I've done a few things and this sort of trumped them all for stress.
00:20:55
Speaker
So it was a very stressful time. And then at that same time, yeah you know, kids adjusting to new schools and just sort of trying to get some order back into your life and sort of, you know, focus on your marriage as well. It it was a pretty tough period.
00:21:15
Speaker
But thankfully, we've, you know, sort of started to come out the other end of that and the pressures eased a little. So I left that stressful job and I moved into hospital social work, which has been really good.
00:21:32
Speaker
I really enjoy my job. But about four months in to that role, I was asked to move into like a more senior position and it happened to be on the renal ward in my hospital.
00:21:46
Speaker
So I happen to have polycystic kidney disease and it's sort of something that's always, I found out about it about 10 years ago, didn't know a lot about it, kind of viewed it like it's okay, one day I'll get kidney transplant, everything will be fine, i can ignore it for now.
00:22:08
Speaker
So I started that position and then, kid you not, a month into that position, ma my kidney function went went downhill quite significantly. la so I was dealing with that and then working in the space of renal medicine. So I was daily see yeah daily seeing my potential futures. Oh.
00:22:34
Speaker
Part of my role is working with the transplant team. So i work with the consultants on potential transplants. And I was seeing all of these sort of tests and ultrasounds of people's kidneys and I'm looking at it and I'm going, I'm not that far away from this. Like I've always kind of like that. yeah. Yeah. So initially like 10, 11 years ago when I saw um the specialist the first time, it was like a one-off.
00:23:04
Speaker
She kind of said, yeah, you know, you might need a transplant one day. you might never need one. Just, you know, come back and see me if your kidneys start to decline. But, yeah, all should be good.
00:23:16
Speaker
And then, yeah, I'm sitting there looking at this screen and I'm like like putting all the pieces together and I'm like this is 10 years. Yeah. So it was just very confronting time for me.
00:23:33
Speaker
But I think it was absolutely, it was definitely a blessing in disguise. It was one of those things. I think I'm definitely someone who who sort of, know, sweeps things under the carpet until I have to deal with them.
00:23:47
Speaker
So I think it was God's way of saying, you need to take this seriously. you need to look after yourself, like look after your health. And, and yeah, so it was, it's been really good.
00:24:02
Speaker
I've, you know, connected with all the right people, I've learnt a lot more about this disease and what it means for me and and now because one of my my sons has it as well.
00:24:15
Speaker
I'm sorry. so Yeah, no, yeah, thank you. But, um yeah, it's so so had it's been challenging it's been quite confronting time. But at the same time, I've learnt so much and I just feel a lot more, I guess, empowered physically in taking my health into my own hands and looking at ways that I can improve it.
00:24:39
Speaker
Yeah. Like just out interest, like what kind of things have you learned about like, I don't know like the disease or things that help or like what kind of things do you have to do to look after yourself?
00:24:51
Speaker
Yeah, so it's a bit tricky. So it kind of gets – because polycystic kidney disease, it becomes chronic, like renal failure. So where where I sit at the moment, I'm sort of mid-stage renal failure.
00:25:04
Speaker
So a lot of specialists sort of treat it the same as other, like chronic kidney conditions or like renal failure. So there's a lot of conditions that can lead to renal failure, but like polycystic kidneys are quite unique in that, like it's Yeah, it's hard to go into the details and I'm not a medical expert.
00:25:28
Speaker
But not a lot of research has been done into, you know, whether dietary changes would impact, you know, the progression of the disease. Like they typically tell you to go on you'll use your usual renal diet, which is generally for people,
00:25:45
Speaker
yeah who've who say have like the diabetic form of of renal failure. So there's nothing really tailored. ah to this specific condition and not enough research done to show, yeah, what kind of things might help to slow it.
00:26:02
Speaker
um Although a lot, you know, a lot more is coming out now in recent years. So, you know, I've been talking with my specialist about potentially doing ah trial like a couple of trials. There's a few trials coming up of different medications and that kind of thing.
00:26:19
Speaker
um So that's a bit exciting. But, but yeah, so it's... it's um Yeah, interesting space to be but I think feel like God's put me in it for a reason. Like I'm in a very unique position of working in a field as a social worker while also being a patient.
00:26:40
Speaker
So, Yeah, it's like that, it's that double-edged sword, yeah where you're like, part of you, like it forced you to look at something that you would have made sense, you wouldn't want to look at not have to confront. Yeah.
00:26:53
Speaker
And then, like, you know, on the other side is providing a lot of, like, assistance and support, you know, and access to knowledge that you wouldn't have had. Like, how do you, like, in terms of, like, the social work role, how do you straddle that? Because would be quite tricky. I'm generally pretty good at that.
00:27:12
Speaker
Yeah, I'm generally pretty good at putting, like, putting things in a box when it comes to work. and personal so i haven't actually found that part too difficult I think potentially as like my condition progresses I'll back out of that role like they'll reach a point where it's like yeah it's getting too because I also live nearby so that's gonna be my hospital So, yeah, at some point it's going to get weird and awkward and it's just better. Weird and awkward and you'll laugh.
00:27:45
Speaker
See you guys. Hand in your lanyard and take your Medicare card out. That's right. Yeah. Sorry, that's so it's not funny. But funnily enough, I'm not the only one. like that Yeah, I'm not the only one.
00:28:00
Speaker
So there's a few bad. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So... What do reckon some things God taught you about his character through this, like, you know, this hard season?
00:28:10
Speaker
But, like, you don't reckon you would have learned otherwise. Like, what did you learn about God? Yeah, I think
Learning from Life's Challenges
00:28:16
Speaker
no matter what, God is in control and he is constant. Like, you know, before there's just been so much upheaval in the last few years and that's one thing. Like, he you know, he's solid and he's as solid and unswaying as a rock. He's always there.
00:28:35
Speaker
And he's definitely your lighthouse in the storm. That's for sure. um Yeah. And I think the other thing, and it's sort of always been, I remember a long, like when I was a teenager in Bible study talking about how God ah is not restricted by time.
00:28:55
Speaker
So he sees everything, you know, on the chessboard. Whereas, you know, we only see one piece. So, you know, as as much as it's a bit crappy that, you know, people have health conditions like this and that, you know, our bodies are flawed and that life's flawed, like God has some purpose in all of that.
00:29:16
Speaker
yeah Like he knows where all the pieces need to be. He knows where they all fit. So, yeah, I think that's what I've learned and I'm continuously learning. think sad, isn't it? Like there's,
00:29:29
Speaker
There's something very comforting, almost like when you're gaming and you're playing Skyrim, I'm assuming this is what it's like. Again, I don't know what Skyrim is like. But, you know, there's a sense of like someone is holding all this all together. Like it's not meaningless or purposeless, but, you know, someone who can be known is holding it all together. Yeah,
00:29:54
Speaker
yeah. And, you know, it's so easy to try and take things back into your own hands and sort of, yeah, it's easy to spiral in in that sense, you know, whether it's health, whether it's work, whether it's financial struggles, whether it's feeling like, you know, your parenting's lacking.
00:30:15
Speaker
But, yeah, thankfully, you know, got yeah God is always in control and he does tend to remind us or give us little reminders that, You know, we need to give those give life to him, give our lives to him and and he'll direct our paths.
00:30:34
Speaker
Yeah. And I do struggle with that a lot. so
00:30:40
Speaker
It's a bit like a potato, it's like back and forth.
00:30:46
Speaker
It's kind of that thing where I'm like I just keep having to learn patience over and over again. I'm like, God, I just want to learn something else now. I should stop learning patience. And he's like, how about we learn it again? But, yeah, like is there anything, yeah because it sounds like you're kind of in that continuous process of like handing stuff back to God, but is there anything that helps you with that work when that worries, i don't know, when the worries do bubble up?
00:31:11
Speaker
Like is anything specifically that you do that helps? don't know. usually it's in that space when God remind and reminds you of those things to give him control.
00:31:26
Speaker
um Yeah, I'd have to say that is it. And then also just finding fine quiet time so that, which can be so hard, but even if it's just a short moment, finding that quiet time where you can hear God's voice.
00:31:44
Speaker
You can hear what or have that moment of, being able to hear what he's trying to tell you. um It sounds so fancy when I say it that way, but like it's, yeah, yeah.
00:31:57
Speaker
It's like, it sounds, you know what I mean It's so simple and yet it's so hard to do, but you're like, yeah, the Bible's like, be still, know that I'm God. Like, yeah. And it's that constant of thing where you're like, okay I've just, I've got to sit down.
00:32:10
Speaker
Okay. I've just got to take five minutes and just, you know, you're like, didn't I pray about it? But you're like, again, So profoundly helpful and yet, you know, it's easy to become a cliche, but you're like, it's the one thing that is so helpful.
00:32:25
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah.
00:32:28
Speaker
Yeah. Totally. Man, thank you
Inspiration and Connection
00:32:32
Speaker
so much. That was like really, really clear. Like good i'm really encouraging. Yeah. Um, who do you reckon would be good to hear from next? Like who, I mean, yeah.
00:32:46
Speaker
Oh, I don't know. um you going to throw under the bus, Kaya? I don't know. i'm not sure. I'm sorry. got nothing for that one.
00:32:59
Speaker
Sorry, that was actually a cackle.
00:33:05
Speaker
I do know. I think someone who would be good to interview through my church, Jacinta Patterson,
00:33:13
Speaker
She's lovely. She sent me a really nice email when she signed up to like stories and she was like, hey, I'm really excited. She's just lovely. Yeah. Yeah. yeah, am in awe of her ability to connect people.
00:33:32
Speaker
She's amazing at it. Or she can take a really awkward silence in a room and create conversations. Yeah. She's just, she's,
00:33:43
Speaker
Yeah, I really, think she would be great to talk to or hear I'd love to hear from I'd to hear you. And be like, teach me your ways, Jacinta, to teach me your ways. Yeah, yeah.
00:33:54
Speaker
Help me. Help me to be, you know, myself but less myself, but you know, in terms of awkwardness. Yeah. Brilliant. And on that awkward note, thank you, everyone, for listening.
Closing and Newsletter Invitation
00:34:12
Speaker
That's it from us, friends. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. And if you did, you can sign up to our free weekly newsletter called Stories I Tell You at Dinner. So you get essays, poetry, podcast episodes, everything, photo essays straight to your inbox on Wednesdays from March to November from Christian Women in Western Australia.
00:34:33
Speaker
If you'd like that, the link is in the show notes. Thanks for listening, guys. Bye. Bye.